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County water report

Alleghany County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Alleghany County, Virginia.

Water grade

D

Water score

45.6

State rank

#61

of 95

Health violations

3

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

12.2%

123 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

26

10,534 recent measurements

Live streamflow

32%

COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Alleghany County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

D

Score: 45.6 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

3

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

12% impaired

123 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

32% of mean

COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

26

10,534 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

D

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

45.6/100

Health violations

3

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

23.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Alleghany County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Alleghany County's drinking water received a D grade, scoring 45.6 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 3 health-based violations — a small cluster that warrants attention.

Watershed Conditions

EPA ATTAINS

Under the Clean Water Act §303(d), EPA ATTAINS tracks whether waterways meet quality standards for drinking, recreation, and aquatic life (reporting cycle: 2022). A notable 12.2% of assessed waterways carry an impairment designation (15 of 123 water bodies) across Alleghany County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are escherichia coli (e. coli) and temperature. Impairment does not mean tap water is unsafe — it measures ambient waterway conditions upstream of treatment, not finished drinking water.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T14:30:00.000-04:00) puts COWPASTURE RIVER at 172.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 32% of mean — low-flow conditions worth noting for water-dependent ecosystems. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Alleghany County has moderate coverage with 26 active monitoring sites with 10,534 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and nutrient. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for Alleghany County

Water Verdict

Alleghany County, Virginia receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of D and a score of 45.6 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments cover 123 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 12.2% listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act — a source-water measure that is tracked independently of tap-water compliance. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 31.7% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Alleghany County, Virginia show 3 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 23.0 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 10,534 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Alleghany County's drinking-water compliance is below average with a Grade D, indicating repeated or unresolved violations in the recent record. Alleghany County's drinking-water compliance score is 45.6 out of 100. The violation rate for Alleghany County is 23.0 per 100,000 people served. Residents are encouraged to use an NSF 53 or NSF 58-certified filter for drinking and cooking water until the underlying violations are resolved. Running tap water for 30 seconds before use and avoiding older lead-pipe connections can also reduce exposure risk. The current Consumer Confidence Report from your utility will specify the contaminants of concern. E. coli is the leading impairment cause in Alleghany County's watershed. With 26 active water-quality monitoring sites in Alleghany County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the COWPASTURE RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Alleghany County has poorer water quality than the average county in Virginia. Its water score is 12.1 points lower than the state average, suggesting more challenges with contamination control or infrastructure than neighboring counties.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in Alleghany County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    E. coli (bacteria)

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 2

    Elevated temperature

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 3

    Pcbs in Fish Tissue

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Alleghany County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Alleghany County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Alleghany County

Consumer Confidence Reports (VA)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Virginia

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

12.2%

15 of 123 assessed

Some impairment

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)

  • 2

    TEMPERATURE

  • 3

    PCBS IN FISH TISSUE

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Impairment is determined under the Clean Water Act §303(d): a water body is impaired when it fails to meet state-defined quality standards for designated uses (drinking, recreation, aquatic life). Assessment coverage varies by state; counties without assessed water bodies are not shown.

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

26

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

11K

10,534 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Nutrient
  • Microbiological

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

172cfs

May 14, 6:30 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

32%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA

USGS site
02016000
Drainage area
461 sq mi
Long-term mean
542 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

Free tool

Estimate Your Water Costs

Water Cost Estimate

3

3 people  ·  ~225 gal/day

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Alleghany County:C — Moderate

Some violations or watershed impairment detected.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Alleghany County, Virginia?
Alleghany County, Virginia has a drinking-water quality grade of D with a score of 45.6/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 3 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.
Are there any water violations in Alleghany County?
Alleghany County has 3 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.
How healthy are the watersheds in Alleghany County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 12.2% of Alleghany County's 123 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (15 impaired). The top reported causes are ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI), TEMPERATURE, PCBS IN FISH TISSUE. Impairment means the water body fails to meet state quality standards for at least one designated use — drinking water source, recreation, aquatic life, or fish consumption. Note: watershed impairment doesn't always translate to tap-water issues; treatment plants can remove most regulated contaminants.
How much water-quality monitoring happens in Alleghany County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 10,534 measurements from 26 monitoring sites in Alleghany County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Nutrient, Microbiological. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.
What's happening with rivers in Alleghany County right now?
Alleghany County's primary USGS streamgage on the COWPASTURE RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 172 cubic feet per second — 32% of the long-term mean of 542.25 cfs. This is well below typical — often a signal of drought stress on source water. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Alleghany County water compare to the Virginia average?
Alleghany County's SDWIS water quality score of 45.6/100 is lower than the Virginia state average of 57.7. The average water quality grade across Virginia is D, based on data from 95 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Alleghany County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Alleghany County has a water quality grade of D (45.6/100). This indicates below-average compliance with significant violations. Residents may want to consider home water filtration or independent testing. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
Does Alleghany County have clean drinking water?
Alleghany County has 3 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 45.6/100 and grade D, the county's drinking water has had some compliance issues but continues to be monitored. Note: drinking-water compliance speaks to the public water system, not necessarily to the watershed itself — check the Watershed Health zone for ATTAINS §303(d) data.
How does Alleghany County rank for water quality in Virginia?
Alleghany County ranks #61 out of 95 counties in Virginia by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 45.6/100, it falls in the middle third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Warren County

Virginia

D

46.2

Water score

Franklin County

Virginia

D

44.6

Water score

Page County

Virginia

D

44.2

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Watershed health and impaired-waterway data from the EPA ATTAINS Clean Water Act §303(d) assessments, state-reported and EPA-finalized.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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